Elephant and Castles infamous shopping centre is facing demolition, but what will this mean for the workers who spend their days there?

Elle-Mae Smith, JLDN

Uncertainty in a job is stressful for anyone. However, this is something that the people who work in and around Elephant and Castles shopping centre have been facing ever since the turn of the century. The boroughs council have had countless meetings trying to decide what to do and how to update the ever-crumbling building, that still attracts many locals and tourists daily.

A local market owner told us that “I’ve known since around 2000s, every time they’ve delayed it another 3 years.” It was also suggested that he, a small, independent business owner didn’t feel supported by the council, as he feels like he “Doesn’t know what’s going to happen and they’re probably going to move us somewhere else.”

However, Nana Boakye-Ansah, manager for Boots, feels comfortable with the decisions that are taking place. He voiced that he had been informed on the decisions and that he felt stable in the position that he was in. With Boots being a well-known business, he was confident that if the shopping centre was demolished, him and his staff would “be relocated to another branch.”

Hopefully final decisions will be made soon, so that workers of the centre will know whether they can stay or must leave the castle.